Generally, an automotive air conditioner automatically determines the temperature, airflow level, etc., of conditioned air discharged from selected air outlets by reference to various parameters such as temperature setting, outside temperature, inside temperature, and solar radiation. However, human sensitivity to temperature differs from one person to another (some are sensitive to heat, while others are sensitive to cold). As a result, the automatically determined temperature, airflow level, etc., of the conditioned air may not be optimum for every occupant. In that case, an occupant may adjust the air conditioner to raise or lower the temperature setting or to increase or reduce the airflow level by operating an operation panel. In view of this, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-293204 discloses an air conditioner in which a learning control is incorporated that corrects a relational equation for determining the temperature or airflow level of conditioned air, by using relevant parameters when an occupant has changed the setting such as the temperature setting or airflow level by operating an operation panel.
However, a vehicle occupant does not always change the setting of the air conditioner because his or her sensitivity to temperature differs from others. The occupant may, for example, change the setting due to external environmental factors in a specific situation. For example, if the occupant has just exercised before driving the vehicle, the occupant may want to set the temperature lower than normal. Further, when the vehicle approaches a place where traffic congestion always occurs, the occupant may set the air inlet mode of the air conditioner to an inside air recirculation mode in order to prevent exhaust gas from flowing into the inside of the vehicle. However, the air conditioner disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-293204 cannot distinguish whether the occupant has changed the setting of the air conditioner because of external environmental factors in a specific situation or because the set value automatically adjusted by the air conditioner did not match the occupant's sensitivity to temperature. As a result, with the above-disclosed air conditioner, it has been difficult to automatically optimize the air conditioning temperature, etc. to suit specific situations such as described above.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-62431 discloses an automotive climate control system that makes it possible to discriminate between temperature control learning and other learning by adding data indicating the current location of a vehicle to the learned data. This automotive climate control system determines whether the temperature control learning is to be performed or not, by referring to the date and time and the location of the vehicle. However, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-62431 does not disclose optimizing the air conditioning temperature, etc., to suit specific situations such as described above.
If the air conditioning temperature, etc., are to be optimized to suit specific situations, each specific situation must be accurately identified. Accordingly, in the case of the automotive climate control system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-62431, for example, it becomes necessary to determine the range of the date and time and the range of the location of the vehicle where the temperature control learning is to be performed. However, it has been difficult to set such ranges in advance because the range of the date and time and the range of the location of the vehicle vary depending on the vehicle driver. In particular, if it is intended that the air conditioner setting be optimized in accordance with a specific segment of a road, the problem is that the length of such a specific segment may extend several kilometers. A similar problem can occur when automatically controlling other vehicle-mounted apparatus than the air conditioner in accordance with a specific situation. There is therefore a need to provide a method for determining a location range that corresponds to such a specific situation.